Now in their 29th year as rock 'n' roll crusaders for all that's way, way cool about early '60s Britannia pop, Merseybeat and Shadows-styled instrumentals, The Rapiers—"the best '60s band since the '60s"—are truly worth flying 5,000 miles to see, hear and dig.

06 April 2008

UPDATE 7 APRIL 2008: Stuart Bailey found this snippet of the edited Crisps advert. Not much is left (singing, message, dramatics, wit, er, point). But our lads made the cut.

UPDATE 6 APRIL 2008: Posted by Phil Jarvis: "I don't watch much TV—so I don't know if this is news or not—but the Walkers Crisps ad, with the offending scene edited out, was shown last night on ITV1 at 19.40 in the break during Harry Hill. The footage of The Rapiers playing on the top deck was in full as orginally broadcast. The crash and the shot of The Rapiers afterwards has been removed."

UPDATE 4 APRIL 2008: Nathan J. Hulse writes: "It seems we are still in the advert—I had a text message last night from someone telling me they'd seen me in it... I'm going to complain when they show Scary Movie on TV, because scenes of people being stabbed upsets me. Do you think they will take me seriously?" Meanwhile, further fogging the "Is it on or is it not?" guessing game, the blog A Transport of Delight reported yesterday: "Walkers Crisps has withdrawn an advert that shows a bus being de-roofed whilst driven by retired footballer Gary Lineker. Walkers apologised for the commercial after numerous complaints had been received."

ORIGINAL RAG! POST

Subject to availability: A still from our lads' Walkers advert, snapped off SKY3 TV in my Notting Hill hotel room last week.

Meanwhile, still no visible or anecdotal confirmation of an edited spot airing around Britain. Wails YouTube poster Denjwj on the kerfuffle: "The Politically Correct Brigade and the Whingers and Moaners have struck again and been on about this advert—BUT I THINK IT IS BRILLIANT!"

31 March 2008

No update on a reconstituted Walkers advert, but prankster DanielReidTheEditor from Exeter added several salacious destinations and sponsorship (e.g., the National Bust) to the original. Says DRTE: "I edit videos and remix music and all that kind of funky stuff. Enjoy my home made efforts. If not then up your bum!!!"

30 March 2008

"Absolutely seething" over "political correctness gone stark staring mad", Dave Lawes tipped me this morning to the news. "I am thinking of contacting Hollywood to ask them to suspend every action epic just in case any scene in any film may offend someone somewhere!" he roared.

The article below ran in the Yorkshire Post. Has anyone seen the new advert? Do The Rapiers still get to go on holiday?

Crisp company pulls bus crash TV advert

A crisps manufacturer has withdawn a TV advert which shows the top of a bus being sliced off, following dozens of complaints from viewers.

Walkers said it had cut the offending scene from the ad and a a new version will be aired today.

Among those who complained was the survivor of a Glasgow bus crash in which two adults and three children died.

The advert shows former footballer Gary Lineker driving a bus while eating crisps. He is so busy munching away he fails to notice a low bridge sign and hits it. The top of the bus is sliced off with a loud crash.

Louise Penman spent two weeks in hospital after a double-deck carrying Girl Guides from the Drumchapel area of the city crashed into a railway bridge in 1994.

The 24-year-old, who now lives in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, was shocked by the advert. She was among 91 people who complained to the Advertising Standards Authority.

She said: "It has been a horrific couple of weeks. We feel more for people who lost family—we are still here. I do not see how they can justify an advert like that for a bag of crisps.

"It's so graphic and horrific. I can't believe they think it is fine because it was such a tragic time for us."

Walkers said they had never set out to cause offence and apologised for the distress.

NB: Reader reaction in The Scotsmanhere, Evening Times Online here and at MSN Shadow Music here.

Shadow Bruce Welch (below with Colin) made the scene as well, honoured as combos galore—e.g., Los Jets, Silhouets, Runaways—peppered their sets with Shads tracks. The affable host of the all-instro-no-vocals affair was Glaswegian George Geddes (bottom, chatting with my missus and John).

Meanwhile, during my five-night London holiday, SKY3 TV had the Walkers Routemaster ad in rotation thrice hourly. Anorakishly, I videoed the spot off my hotel telly for posterity. Here 'tis.

CP-J: We have Shadows manager Brian Goode and Bruce Welch to thank. Brian was approached by an advertising company to find a Shadows-styled group for a new Walkers Crisps advert. Brian phoned Bruce, who recommended us. He rang up, "Do you want to play The Shadows in new TV advert?" We said yes.

GO: Well, it's certainly a stretch.

CP-J: We were asked by the production company, "Do you have stage suits that look like The Shadows?" We said, "Why, yes we do!"

GO: That's not you on the soundtrack behind Gary Lineker?

CP-J: No, we had to mime to a new version of Summer Holiday with different words promoting British holidays. We were also given Squier guitars to play. In fact, one is being raffled off Saturday at Amersham, signed by us and Gary, to benefit Macmillan Cancer Support.

GO: Where was everything filmed?

CO-J: Outdoors at Goodwood Race Track in West Sussex, indoors at Shepperton Studios in Surrey. Two days altogether. We did eight takes on the bus. The first run with the top ripped off was hair raising. The bus was going only 15 to 20 mph but slammed on the brakes. We went all over the place. That got a good reaction from the director! Unfortunately, during one take, Dave Lawes cut his hand pretty badly—lots of bleeding. We had to summon the medics!

Walkers Crisps is the UK's best-selling branded food snack. Walkers have a special place in the nation's affections as a result of a long-running advertising campaign featuring former England footballer Gary Lineker, which has been running since 1995. Total sales are estimated at more than £1bn a year. Since 1981 the business has been the UK arm of global salty snack giant Frito-Lay, a division of Pepsico.

Perusing the Walkers site, I see perennial flavour favorites such as salt and vinegar, cheese and onion, even steak and onion, but spud oddities like, erm, marmite. Would you pack that on your holiday?

Another: It's in the bag and you can get your fill (but it's got nothing whatsover to do with the Hippy Hippy Shake).

And this: Where does a Tottenham legend go on holiday?

UPDATE 16 MARCH 2008: Trust me, I don't like waiting, not even to "save a packet". Until all is revealed, here's a second "lads on the set" snap, this one blue on blue, thanks to Nathan J. Hulse. I see John Tuck's got sticks, but can anyone fathom what Colin Pryce-Jones is carrying?